Dogecoin News Today: Meme Coins Grapple with Utility Gaps as Market Shifts to AI and DePIN

Bitcoin's recent surge above $109,000 has reignited interest in meme coins, with investors eyeing tokens that balance speculative appeal with emerging utility. Despite broader market shifts toward AI and DePIN projects, three meme coins—Shiba Inu (SHIB), Dogecoin (DOGE), and Pump.fun (PUMP)—are drawing attention as potential beneficiaries of renewed risk-on sentiment and strategic ecosystem developments, according to a Yahoo analysis for SHIB, an FXStreet forecast for DOGE, and an FXStreet analysis for PUMP.

Shiba Inu, once a poster child for meme coin optimism, faces mounting skepticism as on-chain data reveals persistent utility gaps. The token's layer-2 solution, Shibarium, has seen Total Value Locked (TVL) stagnate below $1 million since early October, a stark contrast to its theoretical capacity and a sign of weak adoption, the Yahoo analysis found. Analysts argue that SHIB's massive circulating supply—over 589 trillion tokens—requires aggressive deflationary mechanisms to drive value, but the current burn rate remains insufficient. Meanwhile, capital is fleeing meme coins toward projects offering tangible use cases, such as AI compute infrastructure and decentralized physical infrastructure networks (DePIN), further hampering SHIB's prospects, the same analysis noted.

Dogecoin, the largest meme coin by market capitalization, remains in a precarious technical position. After a sharp sell-off in early October, DOGE's futures Open Interest (OI) dropped to $1.81 billion from a monthly high of $5 billion, reflecting reduced speculative pressure, the FXStreet forecast reports. The token's Spent Output Profit Ratio (SOPR) has also fallen below 1.00, indicating holders are selling at a loss—a metric historically associated with market capitulation. While bulls hope for a rebound above the $0.2000 support level, delays in Dogecoin ETF approvals and macroeconomic uncertainties, including U.S.-China trade tensions, continue to weigh on sentiment.

Pump.fun (PUMP) has emerged as a dark horse in the meme coin space, driven by whale activity and platform-driven demand. Recent on-chain data shows three major whales accumulating 2.23 billion PUMP tokens—worth $11.05 million—across exchanges like OKX, Binance, and Bybit, the FXStreet analysis found. The platform's revenue has also surged, averaging $1.01 million in fees from token launches and trading, fueling a buyback program that reduces circulating supply. Retail interest is recovering, with futures OI rising to $431 million from $267 million in late October, suggesting a potential end-of-month rally, according to an FXStreet wrap. Technical indicators, including a bullish Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) on the 4-hour chart, further validate the uptrend.

While Bitcoin's strength has bolstered risk appetite, the meme coin sector remains fragmented. Projects like PUMP are leveraging structured accumulation and platform economics to differentiate themselves, whereas tokens like SHIB and DOGE grapple with scalability and utility issues, as noted in the Yahoo analysis and FXStreet coverage. Analysts caution that sustained growth will require more than speculative fervor—meme coins must demonstrate clear value propositions to compete with utility-driven rivals in AI and DePIN.